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Piscator tenuirostris

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Extinct species of bird

Piscator tenuirostris
Temporal range: Eocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Suliformes
Family: Phalacrocoracidae
Genus: †Piscator
Harrison and Walker, 1976
Species: †P. tenuirostris
Binomial name
†Piscator tenuirostris
Harrison & Walker, 1976

Piscator tenuirostris is an extinct species of cormorant-like bird, the only known species in the genus Piscator.

Discovery

Piscator tenuirostris is known from an incomplete rostrum, the anterior end of a premaxilla, found in Hordle, England, in formations dating to the Priabonian, the final age of the Eocene Epoch. This holotype is now at the British Museum.

It was initially described by Colin Harrison and Cyril A. Walker in 1976, and placed in the family phalacrocoracidae. It was placed in class Aves incertae sedis by Jiří Mlíkovský in 2002.

A similar sample was found in the Late Eocene-early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation in Faiyum, Egypt, but whether this sample represents P. tenuirostris, another Piscator species, or a different phalacrocoracid is unknown.

Description

Piscator was similar to the extant phalacrocoracidae, a piscivorous family of aquatic birds. Remains were found in the Bracklesham Group in Hordle, England, which dates to the Priabonian, the last age of the Eocene epoch.

Taxonomy

The genus was introduced by Cyril A. Walker and Colin Harrison in 1976. It was placed in class Aves incertae sedis by Jiří Mlíkovský in 2002. The word piscator is Latin for "fisherman." Other fossils may also represent species in this genus, but they have not been described as such, with some residing in private collections.

P. tenuirostris is the oldest discovered cormorant-like bird in the fossil record. It is the type specimen of its genus, and the only species of Piscator currently described.

See also

References

  1. ^ Mayr, Gerald (April 21, 2009). Paleogene Fossil Birds. Berlin: Springer. pp. 65–67. ISBN 978-3-540-89627-2. OCLC 302080522.
  2. ^ Mlíkovsky, Jirí (2002). Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe (PDF). Prague: Ninox Press. p. 268. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-20.
  3. Brodkorb, Pierce (1978). "CATALOGUE OF FOSSIL BIRDS" (PDF). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum Biological Sciences. 23 (3): 216 – via Florida State Museum of the University of Florida.
  4. ^ Harrison, C. J. O.; Walker, C. A. (1876). "Birds of the British Upper Eocene". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 59 (4): 323–351. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1976.tb01017.x.
Taxon identifiers
Piscator tenuirostris
Piscator
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